HANDS, IMPOSITION OF, a ceremony which has been employed both in ancient mut! modern religious use as symbolizing the conferring of certain interior, and, generally speaking, spiritual gifts. In the consecration of Aaron and his sons, they are directed' to lay their hands•upon the heads of the victims which were to be offered in sacrifice (Ex. xxix. 10, 15, 19). Moses set Joshua apart as the leader of the people by "laying his hands upon his head" (Num. xxvii. 23). Our Lord is entreated to heal the ruler s daughter (Matt, ix.18) by the same ceremony. This is the rite which he himself adopts in blessing the little children (Matt. xis. 15). The gift of the Holy Ghost was imparted by the same ceremony (Acts viii. 17), and the ministers placed by the apostles in the newly founded churches were similarly installed (1 Tim. iv. 14). In the early church, the rite of imposition of hands was employed in the receiving of catechumens and the reconciliation of penitents. From its use in confirmation, that rite is commonly desig nated by the fathers under the name of imposition of hands. In the ancient church,
this rite existed in two forms: the actual laying on of hands, which was called chirothe sia; and the extending the hand over or. towardS the person, which was styled chirotania. In the Roman Catholic church, the former is retained as an essential part of the sacra ments of confirmation and holy orders; the latter is employed in the administration of the priestly absolution. Roth formsare familiarly used in blessing. In the mass, also. previous to the consecration of the elements of bread and wine, the priest extends his hands over them, repeating at the same time the preparatory prayer of blessing. See Wetser's Kirchen-Lexicon, vol. iv. 853. The rite of imposition of hands is used both by the Episcopalian and Presbyterian churches in the ordination of ministers. It also forms part of the ceremony of confirmation in the Anglican and in the Lutheran church. See Palnkir's 4ntiguittW of the English Ritual; Keeling's Liturgies Dritanniew